Local elections unlikely to be free and fair – study

Former deputy chief justice Dikgang Moseneke’s inquiry into the feasibility of holding local government elections this year said yesterday that scheduled elections for this year would likely not be free and fair.

The elections will more than likely now have to be postponed to February 2022, which is the date Moseneke supports.

He added that between now and scheduled elections of October 27, there would not be enough time for either the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) or political parties to prepare for elections and campaign fairly and freely in the midst of a lockdown.

Moseneke concurred with the IEC that, in a state of disaster and lockdown, it would not be possible for voters and politicians to freely exercise their democratic rights.

“The commission approached the court eight times in the last five months to postpone by-elections and voter registration and all of these were granted by the Electoral Court. It is concluded that voters will stay away from the polls as a result of the virus variants.”

Moseneke encouraged the country to continue with its vaccine programme, especially for the more vulnerable in society, in which he jokingly included himself.

He spent much of the briefing reflecting on the ongoing risks of the virus and its many variants and how elections would inevitably lead to parties holding gatherings, which could easily become superspreader events.

He said the real death count attributable to Covid could conceivably be three times higher than the official count of more than 60 000.

Moseneke expressed hope that 40 million South Africans might be vaccinated by February, which would be the threshold to achieve herd immunity.

Countries had held elections during the pandemic, he conceded, but many of them had paid a high price with increases in infections and death.

Moseneke added that elections should be deferred only once and to the earliest possible date to avoid unnecessary loss of life, since arguments in favour of having the election as early as possible “had force”. He expressed sympathy for submissions that had slammed many local government administrations for being corrupt and incompetent. “The auditor-general found that most municipalities are in a worse position than they were at the start of their terms in 2016. “These are powerful considerations. South Africa is due for a reset at municipal government level. But it cannot be at all cost.”

The “nearest point of safety would be February 2022” and the postponement should not be longer than necessary to “save life and limb”.

If elections could take place in February, new municipal councils would still have time to consider their budgets for July 2022, he added.

Moseneke reminded South Africans that his report had been commissioned by the IEC because of the onset of the Covid pandemic. It would not be binding on the commission.

Moseneke acknowledged the need to hold elections was a founding value of the constitution.

Municipal councils have a term of no more than five years, beginning from the day after the elections that brought them into office.

After this term expires, elections must be held within 90 days.

The last municipal elections were held on 3 August 2016.

Voters will stay away from the polls